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Family Stumped by Fired Live-In Nanny Who Won't Leave

A California family is stumped about what to do with a live-in nanny they say refuses to work, refuses to be fired and refuses to leave.

In fact, Marcella Bracamonte claims that the nanny, Diane Stretton, has threatened to sue the family for wrongful firing and elder abuse.

Marcella and Ralph Bracamonte of Upland, California, say they hired Stretton, 64, as a live-in nanny on March 4 to help with their three children, ages 11, 4, and 1. According to the couple, the terms of Stretton's employment were that Stretton was to nanny for the family and help around the house in exchange for room and board.

“We’ve done it before and have never had a problem,” Marcella Bracamonte told ABC News. “I was a stay-at-home mom and thought it would be good to have someone around to help out.”

“The first few weeks she was awesome,” Bracamonte said. “She would come places with us, help out the kids. She was really great.”

Then things changed.

“All of a sudden she stopped working, she would stay in her room all day and only come out when food was ready,” said Bracamonte.

Stretton then told the couple she had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which prevented her from helping around the house.

After what Bracamonte said was weeks of failed attempts to encourage Stretton to perform some of her agreed upon duties, the couple approached her on June 6 with a “last chance letter” reiterating the conditions of her job and stating the consequences if she continued to ignore her responsibilities. Stretton, Bracamonte said, refused to sign the letter, saying that the job was too much for her and she would be leaving in 30 days.

The Bracamontes approached her with a second letter putting her 30-day notice in writing, which, they said, she also refused to sign.

“When I asked her why she wouldn’t sign the letter she said ‘It’s not legal,’ and slammed the door in my face,” Bracamonte recalled. “Once she said the word legal, I knew it wasn’t going to be fun.”

Bracamonte called the police, but the cops declined to do anything, saying it was a civil matter. Lt. John Moore of the Upland Police Department confirmed to ABC News that there is no immediate action that can be taken against Stretton, saying "generally, once somebody has established residency, you have to go through a formal eviction process.”

Bracamonte soon realized that this was not Stretton’s first time with legal matters. Stretton reportedly has been involved in 36 lawsuits, landing herself on California’s Vexatious Litigant Lists for repeatedly abusing the legal system.

“Anyone who looks at her crooked, she sues,” said Bracamonte.

She claims that Stretton is now threatening to sue for wrongful firing and elder abuse.

Stretton is still living in the family's home, eating the family's food and Bracamonte said Stretton told her she wanted the family out of the house from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

“I’m not going to bend for her,” said Bracamonte. “I’m in charge, this is my house. She’s not going to scare me out of my own house.”

But Bracamonte fears for her three children staying in the house with Stretton, saying “I worry there’s obviously something not right in her mind, and the police won’t protect us until someone gets hurt.”

“You don’t know what you’re opening yourself up to when you open your house to someone,” said Bracamonte.

More than three weeks ago the Bracamonte family fired Diane Stretton, 64, but she refused to leave their home. Police told the family they couldn't force Stretton out of their Upland, California, home without an eviction notice.

A judge even ruled in Stretton's favor, deciding the Bracamonte's did not terminate Stretton's employment in a legal manner. The family said Stretton then threatened to sue them if they tried to force her out.

Now Stretton has offered to move out, according to ABC News, but under her conditions. Stretton called the family's attorney late Saturday night "and said she could be out by July 4," Marcella Bracamonte said on "Good Morning America" Sunday. But Bracamonte said that won't work for her family because they plan to be out of town.

So it's still unclear at this point if, in fact, the nanny will leave of her own free will or whether the family will have to continue through with the eviction process, now underway, before they can call their home their own again.

"This is now by court, by law, this is her domain, " Ralph Bracamonte told ABC News.

The family's saga started in March when Marcella Bracamonte hired Stretton as a nanny, who was expected to help out with household chores. The family ran a background check on the woman before hiring her, too.

Bracamonte fired her on June 6.

"She quit working about a month before I ever fired her. She would just stay in her room," said Marcella Bracamonte.

CNN discovered that Stretton is on the California's Vexatious Litigant List, a list of people who continually bring legal action, regardless of merit, against others with the sole intention of harassment. CNN found dozens of lawsuits filed by Stretton in California over the years.

I would say background check but not sure what would have shown up in that one. Hopefully they got a good lawyer. I would not be comfortable with a live in nanny unless it was through some kind of agency and even that that is a stretch.

Holy crap. Didn't these people do any sort of background check at all on this woman before giving her free reign with the children and the home? No letters of reference? Didn't they have a written contract?

Stop feeding the woman, refuse to answer the door for food delivery she may try to order and lock her out the moment she leaves for supplies!

That woman is nuts. Why can't they legally evict her? No one has a right to come in your house and then say they aren' t leaving. Isn't it trespassing, since they have said she must leave? I hope they can get her out soon. That is just plain nuts.

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